May The Fourth Be With You (May 4th - get it ?.....moving on)

Yup I went there. What can I say, I'm a fan / geek. Here are a couple of commercials featuring the lighter side of the dark side.

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New Retro Flick To Look Forward To

Happy New Year (albeit 14 days late!) to all the faithful Retro followers. I hope 2010 brings you nothing but good things, fuzzy retro feelings and all the joy the world has to offer.........or a cell phone with decent reception at the very least. (Another story for another time) Let's start off the 2010 posts with a glimpse into a movie coming to theatres in near future that combines all the things that make movies great - Jedis, Hobbits, Nazi Killers, light sabres, Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Motherf%#$*# Jackson. If only it were true, Avatar would be eating it's smoke as it blazed past them in the box office.

The History of a Clown

No other fast food mascot comes to mind quicker or is more recognizable than Ronald McDonald. Other than Santa Claus, no other character is more recognized around the world than the hamburger loving spokesman for the McDonalds Corporation. Ronald McDonald was actually an altered version of Bozo the Clown created by an ad executive and a clown from the Ringling Brothers Circus. One of the early actors to portray Ronald was a part time Bozo performer and NBC Today Show weatherman, Willard Scott. Not only did he give the clown a name, Ronald, he also took a stab at creating the look of Ronald by creating a costume out of a paper cup for a nose and a cardboard tray as a hat. Pathetic? Yes..... yes it was. Bozo the Clown (R.I.P) Willard and his recycled Costume However, although crude, he was responsible for giving the character a personality and help promote the local franchises. Willard was dumped in 1966 when the corporation took Ronald national citing the reason for dumping Willard as ...

Saturday Morning Kids Programs We Actually Watched

When you try to tell your kids that back in the old days certain things were better you can usually make a decent argument. For example, you could play outside without fear of smog, nobody you knew was alergic to peanuts and you could walk out of a store with a handful of gum and candy that would last you the whole week for a quarter. Some things aren't as easy to defend such as Saturday morning kids shows. Sure we had classics like Looney Tunes (before they got all censored and polically correct), the Flintstones and Scooby (before Scrappy) and of course Josie and Pussy Cats but let's look at some live action shows that you likely watched as a kid in the 70s either because nothing else was on or you actually liked it though secretly you wished the Jetsons were on again. Ark II Nobody really remembers this until you show them the picture of the jacked up RV and they suddenly vaguely recall seeing it. The other reason they likely don't remember is the fact it only aired one...

Retro Video of the Day - Tenderness

One of the good things that came out of the break up of Ska wonderkids "The English Beat" in 1983 was the formation of "General Public" by two of the former members. Although originally made up of former members of The Clash, The Specials and Dexy's Midnight Runners, in the end it was only Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger that endured. Their biggest hit was Tenderness off their first album from 1984, "All The Rage". It managed to reach #11 in Canada and #27 in the U.S. Although they managed a few more hits over the years, including songs on some well known 80s movies like Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, they never matched the same success. Dave still tours as the English Beat and plays General Public tracks but ol' Roger called it quits for good.

Retro Video of the Day - Planet Rock

You may have never heard of Kraftwerk unless you are a true Retro lover however you most certainly heard their music or their musical influences on other artists. Artists like Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Ultravox, Devo and David Bowie all owe their sound to the ground breaking efforts of these four German electronic originals. Founded in 1968, Kraftwerk tried to carve a sound that was uniquely German. They experimented with new technologies and relied on the industrial world around them for inspiration. Album after album their innovative approach to creating new sounds attracted the attention of young musicians and by the early '80s, pretty much every new wave / synth group credited Kraftwerk as a major influence. This made Kraftwerk's Euro sound a dance floor staple. "Funky Futuristic White Boys" Th0ugh Trans Europe Express was released in 1977, it eventually caught the attention of an American DJ who went on to release a little ditty you may have heard of - "Planet Ro...

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